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Benton County Web Site Help

In an attempt to unify the presentation of information and provide a better service to the citizens of Benton County, the County Web site was completely redesigned and rebuilt in 2007. As a part of this effort, new functionality and behavior have been built into the web pages to make them more informative and easier to use.

The purpose of this page is to explain the layout features of the Benton County Web site and help you make full use of its features and functionality. If you have any questions about the County Web site that are not answered on this page, please feel free to contact the webmaster using either our Contact page or by sending an e-mail to the webmaster.

Thank you,

The Benton County Web Site Development Team

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General Layout

The Benton County Web site is designed to present information in a fixed-width display area, centered in your browser window. The reason for selecting this method is that it allows us to precisely control layout and presentation while simplifying maintenance and manageability. While the site is optimized to fit within a maximized browser window at an 800x600 resolution, it presents equally well in both higher resolution and lower resolution environments.

What this means, generally, for you is that the display area used by the site will not change. The width and arrangement of the page elements will remain the same throughout your time browsing the County's web site. Exceptions to this occur when you select any link that goes to a PDF document, the presentation of which is controlled by the Adobe Reader, or any link that goes to an image file (i.e., many of our maps). These items are not contained within our framework and will appear in their native fashion.

The Benton County Web site's common framework for information presentation is composed of:

• a two-row header with site level functions and links
• a logo and banner
• a page title
• a two-column body section with
  • the navigation column
  • the main content column
• a two-row footer with
  • links to policy information and the webmaster email link
  • department level address information

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Organization of Content

Information contained in the Benton County Web site is generally organized in a manner that mirrors the departmental and intra-departmental breakdown of the County itself. Each department has its own area of the site; and any divisions within that department will likewise have a section within its parent department.

Because not everyone is familiar with the departments and divisions within the County, we have provided four methods for accessing the information currently online.

1. Search Engine

   Benton County uses Google's® search technology to index and provide a searching mechanism to the County's Web site. You can access this search at the top left of your browser window, in the page header, on all pages.

2. Departments & Committees List

   We have provided an index of departments and committees in county government. That page is linked at the top right of your browser window, in the page header, on all pages.

3. Topic Index

   We have provided an index of topics for all major subjects of interest that are covered on the County's Web site. The index is linked at the top right of your browser window, in the page header, on every page.

4. Portal Pages

   For commonly accessed or requested information, we have created portal pages at the top of the Web site. These pages are accessible via the Web site's root menu at the left, and each portal menu item also contains child menu items to provide quick access to the information identified on the portal page. Information groupings exist for Land Interests, Health Concerns, Public Safety, and Maps & GIS information.

Once you are within a department's (or division's) section of the site, your main menu navigation will change to reflect that department's or division's breakdown of information. But while the main navigation changes as your browsing context changes, the main methods of accessing the site's higher levels, as described here, remain in place throughout.

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Functional Notes

E-mail Links

Throughout the site, you will come across links for sending an e-mail; either to a specific person or to a group of people. These links are translated into standard HTML mailto links that require you to have a properly configured and browser-compatible e-mail client in order for the link to work. These links make use of this configuration in your computer to tell your email client to send an email to a given address. If these links do not work for you, please use the contact forms provided in the individual department or division sections of the Web site.

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Javascript

In the interests of compatibility and accessibility, we have purposefully designed and built our site to use almost no client-side functionality, i.e., Javascript. In some cases, this means we haven't made things as flashy or dynamic as is possible; but we believe this will provide for a resource that is more widely useable. However, in order to make full use of the menu navigation, if you are using Microsoft's Internet Explorer, you must allow Javascript to function. Because of Internet Explorer's incomplete support for standards, Javascript must be used to force Internet Explorer to behave properly under some conditions.

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Section Descriptions

Page Header

The page header is a static element that is present on every page of the site. It will always present the same information, regardless of the page currently being viewed.

The top row of the header displays the current date on the left-hand side. On the right-hand side of the header's top row are the following items, in order from left to right.

• Home - a link to the County home page
• Contact Us - a link to the main Webmaster contact form
• Help - a link to the page you are currently reading
• A A A - links allowing you to change from large to normal to small font sizes

The lower row of the header provides site-wide access to the site's search function on the left-hand side. On the right-hand side are the following items, in order from left to right.

• Departments & Committees - a link to a page listing all the departments and committees referenced throughout the Web site.
• Topics A - Z - a link to a topical index for the Web site

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Banner

The banner row actually contains two images. On the left is the County logo. This image is also a hyperlink to the Web site's front page. The actual banner is one of several images that are selected and presented by a random selection program using a collection of images from all across the county.

Page Title

Below the logo and banner images is the page title. This title should describe the contents of the page in as concise and accurate a manner as possible.

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Main Navigation

Below the page title and to the left-hand side of the display area is the site's main navigation. The navigation elements available will change according to the section of the Web site you are browsing. Basically, every department has its own navigation elements and when you are within a department's section of the site, you will only see that navigation.

Exceptions to this are the first two navigation elements, Departments and Elected Officials. These elements provide site-wide access to the root pages of each of the departments and major divisions within the County's structure; and to the bio pages for the people holding elected office within the county respectively. Regardless of where you are on the site, the department and elected officials lists are always available as the first navigation elements.

The section below is the context-sensitive section that will change as you move through the various departments, divisions and other areas of the site. Note that when you are within a specific department's section of the site, the first element in this area will change to Home. This navigation item will take you to the "home page" for the current department or division.

The bottom section of the navigation elements contains two navigation items. The first is the Contact Us link. This will take you to the relevant contact page for the department or section you are browsing. Below this link is a link to the County Home Page. This link will always take you to the root of the site.

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Main Content Area

The main content area is where the information for the current topic will be displayed. This is the core content of the web page and the part that will change on every page you visit.

Page Footer

The top row of the page footer contains the following:

• Liability & Privacy Policy - a link to the liability and privacy policy page for the Benton County Web site
• Copyright - a link to the copyright policy page for the Benton County Web site
• E-mail Webmaster - an email link to send a message to the Webmaster (please note that you must have a properly configured email client for this and all email links on the Web site)

The lower row of the page footer contains address and telephone information for the current department or division you are viewing. If you are not in a specific department's area of the site, this area will display the default county address information.

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